The deeper we descended into the mausoleum, the colder it became. It wasn't just the temperature dropping; the very air felt thick and oily, coating my throat with the taste of copper.
Valeria took the lead, her obsidian armor clinking softly. I walked a few paces behind her, using the stone wall for support. Seraphina floated silently above us, her violet glow serving as our only torch in the suffocating darkness.
"You are trembling, Master," Valeria said without turning around.
"Just the cold," I lied. In truth, the ominous rumbling from below was vibrating through the soles of my boots, shaking my bones.
"Liar," Seraphina chimed in, drifting down to whisper in my ear. "I can smell your fear. It smells like... ozone. And something sour." She paused, her eyes narrowing. "But there is excitement too. You want to see what's down there."
"I want to find the exit," I corrected her. "If the Guardian is the key, then the Guardian dies."
We reached the end of the corridor. It opened into a vast, circular chamber. The ceiling was high and domed, lost in shadows. In the center of the room stood a pedestal, and upon it, a swirling vortex of black mist.
The rumbling stopped. The silence that followed was worse.
"It is here," Valeria announced, raising her greatsword. She widened her stance, planting her feet firmly on the stone floor. "Stay behind me, Master. Do not let the visual disturb you."
"Visual?" I asked. "What visual?"
The black mist on the pedestal began to churn. It expanded, reaching out like tentacles, grabbing the loose bones scattered around the room. Ribs, skulls, femurs—thousands of them flew into the whirlwind.
SNAP. CRUNCH. SQUELCH.
The sound of bones knitting together and flesh manifesting from nothingness echoed through the chamber. Within seconds, a monstrosity stood before us.
It was a Golem, standing twelve feet tall, its body a chaotic armor of fused ribcages and spines. It held a massive hammer made of a single, giant thigh bone.
But it was the head that made my blood freeze.
It wasn't a skull. It wasn't a monster.
It was a human head, perfectly preserved, grafted onto the neck of this bone giant. It was the face of a middle-aged man with kind eyes and a graying beard. He looked terrified, his eyes darting around frantically.
A spike of pain, sharper than the Seal's burn, pierced my brain. A memory flashed—brief, disjointed, violent.
Rain. A sleek, metal room. A red button. This man, screaming behind a glass wall.
"No..." I whispered, stepping back. "I know him."
The Golem opened its mouth, but the voice that came out wasn't a roar. It was a distorted, pleading scream.
"Kael! Don't do it! Please, just listen!"
The voice slammed into me like a physical blow. My knees buckled.
"Psychological warfare," Seraphina hissed, her playful demeanor gone. "It uses the memories stored in your soul to hesitate you. Ignore it!"
The Golem lunged.
"Guard!" I shouted, the command tearing from my throat instinctively.
Valeria was already moving. She stepped into the path of the bone hammer, angling her greatsword to deflect the blow.
CLANG!
The impact created a shockwave that blew the dust off the floor. Valeria grunted, her boots sliding backward across the stone, carving deep grooves.
"Heavy," she strained through gritted teeth. "Master, I need more flow!"
I looked at the connection between us. The "valve" I had tightened earlier was now choking her. She didn't have the strength to push back.
I opened the floodgate.
The sensation was immediate—a rush of vertigo as a chunk of my vitality was ripped away. But in exchange, Valeria's armor flared with a dark red aura. With a roar, she shoved the giant hammer back, throwing the twelve-foot monster off balance.
"Now, Seraphina! The legs!" I ordered.
"With pleasure!"
The wraith swooped down. "Shadow Bind!"
Black chains made of smoke erupted from the floor, wrapping around the Golem's thick, bony legs. The monster struggled, the man's face on its neck screaming in that familiar, heart-wrenching voice.
"Why, Kael? I trusted you!"
I squeezed my eyes shut for a second. Focus. It's a monster. It's not him.
"Valeria, strike the left knee! Shatter its support!"
Valeria pivoted, momentum on her side. Her blade crashed into the Golem's knee joint. Bone shattered, and the giant toppled to one side, falling to one knee.
"Finish it!" I yelled, adrenaline masking my exhaustion.
Valeria raised her sword for a decapitating strike.
But the Golem was faster than it looked. Its free hand—a claw made of sharpened ribs—swung out in a backhand motion.
It caught Valeria mid-swing.
CRACK.
Valeria was launched across the room. She slammed into the stone wall with sickening force and crumpled to the floor. She didn't get up.
"Valeria!" I screamed.
I felt the feedback through our bond—a sharp, agonizing crack in my own ribs. I coughed, tasting blood. The connection wavered. She was conscious, but barely.
The Golem turned its gaze toward me. The man's face was now twisted into a grin of pure malice.
"Your shield is broken, boy. Now, you join the collection."
It raised the bone hammer. I was defenseless. Seraphina's magic couldn't stop a physical object that heavy.
"Master!" Seraphina cried out, positioning herself between me and the monster, though we both knew she would just pass through the weapon.
Time seemed to slow down. I looked at Valeria, struggling to lift her head. I looked at the hammer descending toward me. And then, I looked at the Red Seal on my chest.
It wasn't just a battery. It was a conduit.
Seraphina had said it: 'We don't just consume energy. If played correctly, we generate it.'
I didn't run. Instead, I lunged toward Valeria.
I slid across the floor, reaching her just as the hammer began its downward arc. I didn't try to lift her. I placed my hand directly over her heart, on the center of her breastplate.
"Resonate!" I roared.
I didn't push energy into her. I pulled on the emotion—her desire to protect, my fear of death, and the sheer refusal to die in this godforsaken hole. I forced our souls to vibrate at the same frequency.
The Seal exploded with light.
The world turned white. The sound of a bell tolling filled the chamber.
Ding.
[System Alert: Soul Resonance Activated.] [Partner: Valeria (Death Knight).] [Sync Rate: 15% -> 40%.] [Status: Overdrive.]
The hammer came down.
But it didn't hit us. It stopped inches above my head, blocked by a single, gauntleted hand.
Valeria was standing. But she had changed.
Her obsidian armor was now glowing with molten veins of crimson. Her eyes were no longer icy blue; they burned with the same red fire as my Seal. She held the massive bone hammer in one hand, stopping it effortlessly.
She looked down at me, her expression fierce and terrifyingly beautiful.
"You called, Master?"
She twisted her wrist. With a sound of screeching calcium, she ripped the hammer from the Golem's grip and crushed the handle.
Then she moved.
She was a blur of red and black. She leaped into the air, bringing her greatsword down not with technique, but with raw, unbridled fury.
"DIE!"
The blade cleaved through the Golem's shoulder, through the torso, and out the other hip.
The monster didn't even have time to scream. It fell apart, dissolving into a pile of inanimate bones and black sludge. The human face—the face of the man I allegedly killed—melted away, its expression shifting from malice to peace before vanishing.
Valeria landed gracefully. The red glow on her armor faded instantly, and she staggered, dropping to one knee.
I rushed to her, catching her before she hit the ground. "Valeria! Are you okay?"
She looked up at me, sweat matting her silver hair to her forehead. She looked exhausted, but she was smiling. A genuine, small smile.
"That was... intense, Master," she breathed. "Your soul... it tasted like iron and fire."
Seraphina floated over, looking between us with wide eyes. "You triggered a Resonance on your first day? That's... actually impressive. Usually, it takes weeks of 'bonding' to achieve that."
I slumped against the wall, wiping the blood from my mouth. "Let's not make a habit of it. I feel like I just ran a marathon while holding my breath."
[System Alert: Guardian Defeated.]
[Level Up! Level 1 -> Level 2.]
[New Skill Unlocked: Tactical Command (Passive).]
[Loot Dropped: Memory Shard (Small).]
A small, glowing blue crystal lay where the Golem had fallen.
"Memory Shard?" I asked, reaching out to pick it up. It was warm to the touch.
"Be careful," Seraphina warned. "Those things contain echoes of the past. Sometimes they show you the truth. Sometimes they show you what you fear."
I held the crystal tight. The face of the man—Marcus, the name whispered in my mind again—was still burned into my retina.
"I need to know," I said. "I need to know why he called me a traitor."
I squeezed the crystal.
But before it could activate, the back wall of the chamber ground open. A beam of natural, pale moonlight cut through the darkness.
"The exit," Valeria said, using her sword to stand up. "We made it."
I pocketed the crystal. The answers could wait. Survival came first.
"Let's go," I said, leading my two deadly companions toward the light. "Welcome to the real world."
End of Chapter 4
Status Update:
Kael: Level 2. Unlocked Soul Resonance (Basic) and Tactical Command. Possesses a Memory Shard.
Valeria: Damaged but healing. Trust increased significantly.
Seraphina: Intrigued. Sees Kael as more than just a mana battery now.